Systems and methods for generating curated and custom content for data-driven applications using closed-loop data

ABSTRACT

A system may generate a first transaction history from a plurality of records of charge. The system may select a plurality of merchants based on the plurality of records of charge, and generate a first user profile in response to the first transaction history and the plurality of merchants. The first user profile may comprise a merchant score for a merchant appearing in the first transaction history. The first transaction history may include transaction account issuer data. The system may receive a request for content that identifies a user account associated with the first user profile. The system may further generate the content based on the merchant score in response to the request for the content. The request may be automatically generated by the application or may be in response to an action by the first user.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to, and the benefit of, U.S.Provisional Ser. No. 62/236,684, filed Oct. 2, 2015 and entitled“SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GENERATING CURATED AND CUSTOM CONTENT USINGCLOSED-LOOP DATA,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in itsentirety for all purposes.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to generating curated and/or customcontent for a user based on the user's transaction history.

BACKGROUND

Users spend increasing amounts of time online shopping, planning,reading and otherwise looking for content that interests them. The vastmajority of content may be of little interest to many users, yet usersreview volumes of available information to find content of interest tothem. Personalization of content available to users may be based onaffirmative actions by users that elect to provide such information.However, many users forego the benefits of personalization in light ofthe associated time and trouble inherent to setting up accounts and/ortaking the affirmative actions required to generate more personalizedcontent.

Travel planning is one area where users seek relevant content. Travelplanning web sites often include reviews of potential products such as,flights, hotels, dining services, and auto rentals. Certain travelplanning web sites also provide reviews typically generated by consumerswho have used the product or service being viewed. For a number ofreasons, the reviews may not always be reflective of the averageexperience with the product or service. One reason is that people aremost likely to only post reviews in response to more extremeexperiences, such as excellent or poor experiences. The average consumeris less likely to post a review than an infuriated or thrilled consumer.Furthermore, existing reviews may cause reviewers to modify their ownreview, and thereby introduce social influence bias. In some instances,reviews may also be edited or deleted by a review service provider forvarious reasons. Such modifications may introduce the point of view of abiased third party to a review. Vendors may even post skewed reviewsunder the guise of a consumer to improve their perceived value. As such,recommendations based on these reviews may not be accurate.

An unbiased, empirical assessment of goods or services may provedifficult for all of the foregoing reasons. Even if the reviews werereliable and unbiased, a particular user may not agree with the reviewswhen they try the product for themselves. In other words, every consumeris different and the reviews shared are subjective in nature. However,those differences remain difficult to identify on a person-to-personbasis.

Instead of reviews, many travel planning services rely on paidadvertisement space and generalizations to rank and recommend productsfor users. However, the travel planning service may seem impersonal andinconvenient to a user based in part on a lack of personal insight. Theuser may need to engage in the time-consuming process of sifting throughvoluminous, phonebook-like offerings for products and servicesassociated with their trip in order to locate the ones they want.

SUMMARY

A system, method, and computer readable medium (collectively, the“system”) is disclosed for creating custom content from transactionhistory data, where the transaction history data may include usertransaction data in a closed-loop network or other closed-loop dataassociated with a user. The system may generate a first transactionhistory from a plurality of records of charge. The processor may be incommunication with a memory and a network interface. The system mayselect a plurality of merchants based on the plurality of records ofcharge, and generate a first user profile in response to the firsttransaction history and the plurality of merchants. The first userprofile may comprise a merchant score for a merchant appearing in thefirst transaction history. The first transaction history may includetransaction account issuer data, and the first user profile may bestored on a distributed storage system. The system may receive a requestfor content from an application. The request may identify a user accountassociated with the first user profile. The system may further generatethe content based on the merchant score in response to the request forthe content. The request may be automatically generated by theapplication or may be in response to an action by the first user. Thesystem may also transmit the content to the application for display.

In various embodiments, the system may receive feedback from theapplication and modify the first user profile and/or the content, inresponse to the feedback. The feedback may comprise direct feedback(e.g., feedback arising from an affirmative act by the user or ageolocation). The system may also transmit one or more dynamicallygenerated question(s) based on the first user profile and/or a directrequest, receive one or more answer(s) to the dynamically generatedquestion, and modify the first user profile and/or the content inresponse to the answer(s). The system may further generate a second userprofile in response to a second transaction history, match the firstuser profile to the second user profile, and modify the content based onthe second user profile. The content may comprise a recommendation for amerchant identified in the second transaction history. The system maymatch a first merchant profile and a second merchant profile andidentify the first merchant profile in the first transaction history.The content may comprise a recommendation for the second merchantprofile in response to matching the first merchant profile and thesecond merchant profile.

The system may receive a selection of a search parameter that identifiesa travel preference associated with a user profile that includes atransaction history and/or the transaction history of a look-alikesegment. The system may also retrieve a search result matching thetravel preference associated with the user profile with the searchresult including result characteristics derived from closed-loop dataand/or third party data. The system may further relate at least one of agood or a service to the search result by identifying a firsttransaction involving the good or the service and identifying a secondtransaction involving the search result. The first and the secondtransaction may be part of the transaction history associated with theuser profile.

In various embodiments, the system may refine the search result inresponse to a user selecting a choice between two or more options. Theresult characteristics may include popularity with a segment such as,for example, repeat visitors, international travelers, premiumtravelers, business travelers, and/or domestic travelers. The system mayfilter the search result in response to the search result matching auser preference matching, wherein the user preference is entered by auser. The system may also receive a second search parameter including anorigin location and/or a travel date. The search result may be retrievedby submitting an application programming interface (API) query to a webservice that is configured to retrieve the search result from a filesystem maintained on a distributed computing cluster. The system mayalso select the search result based on the search result appearing in asecond transaction history of a second user profile that at leastpartially matches the user profile.

The forgoing features and elements may be combined in variouscombinations without exclusivity, unless expressly indicated hereinotherwise. These features and elements as well as the operation of thedisclosed embodiments will become more apparent in light of thefollowing description and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

The subject matter of the present disclosure is particularly pointed outand distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. Amore complete understanding of the present disclosure, however, may beobtained by referring to the detailed description and claims whenconsidered in connection with the drawing figures, wherein like numeralsdenote like elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system for providing a user device withcustom and/or curated recommendations based on transaction history, inaccordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary system for generating and communicatingcurated and custom content based partially on user feedback, inaccordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates a process for modifying data driven content usinguser feedback, in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates a process for making custom travel suggestions for auser based on the user's profile and similar user profiles that aregenerated from transaction history, in accordance with variousembodiments; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary process for providing a data-driventravel application, in accordance with various embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description of various embodiments herein makes referenceto the accompanying drawings and pictures, which show variousembodiments by way of illustration. While these various embodiments aredescribed in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art topractice the disclosure, it should be understood that other embodimentsmay be realized and that logical and mechanical changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Thus, thedetailed description herein is presented for purposes of illustrationonly and not of limitation. For example, the steps recited in any of themethod or process descriptions may be executed in any order and are notlimited to the order presented. Moreover, any of the functions or stepsmay be out sourced to or performed by one or more third parties.Furthermore, any reference to singular includes plural embodiments, andany reference to more than one component may include a singularembodiment.

As used herein, “match” or “associated with” or similar phrases mayinclude an identical match, a partial match, meeting certain criteria,matching a subset of data, a correlation, satisfying certain criteria, acorrespondence, an association, an algorithmic relationship and/or thelike. For example, a first consumer may match a second consumer inresponse to the consumers being likely to share interests in a productor service.

The present disclosure provides a system, method, and computer programproduct for generating and providing custom content (i.e., for anidentified user) and/or curated content (i.e., for a set of users) basedat least partially on transaction account issuer or closed-loop data.The transaction account issuer data or closed loop data may be generatedfrom, for example, one or more record of charges (ROC). A ROC maycomprise any transaction or transaction data. The ROC may be a uniqueidentifier associated with a transaction. A transaction may, in variousembodiments, be performed by a one or more users using a transactionaccount, such as a transaction account associated with a gift card, adebit card, a charge card, a credit card, and the like. A ROC may, inaddition, contain details such as location, merchant name or identifier,transaction amount, transaction date, and/or other information relevantto the transaction.

Feedback may also be retrieved from users and weighted based on the typeof feedback and relative reliability compared to ROC data or othertransaction histories. For example, feedback on products and servicesmay be based on feedback generated directly and/or indirectly based onuser behavior and input. The use of closed-loop data may enableconsumers to rate locations for which they have verified visits toaugment and/or modify the custom suggestions generated on theclosed-loop transaction history. The feedback may be integrated intocontent generation to refine custom content (e.g., suggestions) for theuser as well as curated content for other users based on personas and/orlook-alike-modeling. The curated data may be based on closed loop dataand projected to users that do not have associated closed-loop data.Because the closed-loop data forming the basis of the custom and curatedcontent is objective data based on transaction history rather thanunverified opinion, the system of the present disclosure may reduceand/or eliminate bias introduced into content.

With reference to FIG. 1, a system 100 for generating and communicatingcustom content is shown, in accordance with various embodiments. System100 includes a user device 102. User device 102 may comprise any devicecapable of communicating over a network and/or communicating content.For example, user device 102 may take the form of a computer orprocessor, or a set of computers/processors, such as a computer, laptop,notebook, hand held computer, personal digital assistant, cellularphone, smart phone (e.g., iPhone®, BlackBerry®, Android®, etc.), tablet,wearable (e.g., smart watch and smart glasses), automotive infotainmentsystem, or any other suitable device having user interactioncapabilities or dialog capabilities. User device 102 may be inelectronic communication with network 104.

In various embodiments, network 104 may be an electronic communicationsystem accomplishing communication among the parties through anysuitable communication channels, such as, for example, a telephonenetwork, an extranet, an intranet, Internet, online communications,satellite communications, off-line communications, wirelesscommunications, transponder communications, local area network (LAN),wide area network (WAN), virtual private network (VPN), networked orlinked devices, and/or any suitable communication modality. Moreover,although the system may be described herein as being implemented withTCP/IP communications protocols, the system may also be implementedusing IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI, any tunneling protocol (e.g.IPsec, SSH), or any number of existing or future protocols. If thenetwork is in the nature of a public network, such as the Internet, itmay be advantageous to presume the network to be insecure and open toeavesdroppers. Specific information related to the protocols, standards,and application software utilized in connection with the Internet isgenerally known to those skilled in the art and, as such, need not bedetailed herein. See, for example, DILIP NAIK, INTERNET STANDARDS ANDPROTOCOLS (1998); JAVA 2 COMPLETE, various authors, (Sybex 1999);DEBORAH RAY AND ERIC RAY, MASTERING HTML 4.0 (1997); and LOSHIN, TCP/IPCLEARLY EXPLAINED (1997) and DAVID GOURLEY AND BRIAN TOTTY, HTTP, THEDEFINITIVE GUIDE (2002), the contents of which are hereby incorporatedby reference.

Communication over network 104 may utilize data encryption to limitvulnerability of network 104 and devices on the network. Encryption maybe performed by way of any of the techniques now available in the art orwhich may become available—e.g., Twofish, RSA, El Gamal, Schorrsignature, DSA, PGP, TDEA, AES, ECC, PKI, GPG (GnuPG), and symmetric andasymmetric cryptosystems.

In various embodiments, content provider 106 is in electroniccommunication with network 104. In that regard, content provider 106 maycommunicate custom content and curated content to user devices 102.Content provider 106 may maintain client-facing servers in communicationwith user devices 102. The servers operated by content provider 106 maybe, for example, processors, computers, web servers, and/or backendservers configured to generate content and transmit the content to userdevices. Users may log into an account using known security means toauthenticate a user and tailor content specifically for theauthenticated user.

In various embodiments, content provider 106 may be in electroniccommunication with merchant 108. Merchant 108 may operate a point ofsale 110. Point of sale 110 may be a dedicated sales terminal, acomputer, a laptop a tablet, a smartphone, a website, an application, orany interface suitable for completing transactions. A user 112 maycomplete purchase transactions at point of sale 110. The purchasetransactions may yield ROC data for a transaction account used tocomplete the transaction with merchant 108. The ROC data may be used togenerate a transaction history for a user 112 based on their transactionaccount number and ROC data. ROC data may be transmitted to contentprovider 106 via network 104 to be ingested to support, for example,content generation, profiles, and/or user comparisons to provide contentfor user device 102 and/or user 112, as well as user device 114 and user116 that may or may not transact directly with merchant 108.

With reference to FIG. 2, system 200 is shown for generating customand/or curated content based on closed-loop data, in accordance withvarious embodiments. System 200 may include file system 202. File system202 may be maintained by content provider 106 using, for example, adistributed computing cluster. The distributed computing cluster maycomprise a plurality of computing nodes configured for parallelprocessing and storage. In that regard, processing and storage tasks maybe split among the nodes of the distributed computing cluster to improvethroughput and enhance storage capacity. File system 202 of contentprovider 106 may be maintained on a distributed system configured toprocess and store big data sets with some of the nodes comprising adistributed file system and some of the nodes comprising a distributedprocessing system. In that regard, content provider 106 may beconfigured to operate a Hadoop® cluster, for example, version 2.7.1 asspecified by the Apache Software Foundation athttp://hadoop.apache.org/docs/.

In various embodiments, data from various data sources may be collectedand stored in file system 202 (e.g., a distributed system in a Hadoop®cluster). Data sources ingested into file system 202 may includetransaction data 204, customer data 206, third party data 208, publicdata 210, click streams 212, and other suitable data for generating thedesired content. The data may be stored in suitable big data formats forsubsequent mapping to help reduce processing.

In various embodiments, transaction data 204 may include years ofcustomer transaction data for US and global markets stored in a securearea. Transaction data 204 may detail each transaction executed usingeach transaction account maintained by a transaction account providerbased on, for example, ROC data. Customer data 206 may include historyof customer demographic and account information for the transactionaccounts maintained by a transaction account provider. Third party data208 may include additional data which is obtained or purchased fromthird parties. Third party data 208 may include third party dataproducts made available by third party providers. Public data 210 mayinclude data that is publicly available and ready to use. Public data210 may be free or subscription-based. Examples of public data 210include data available from social media sites (e.g., Facebook® andTwitter®), government sources, or other publicly available data sources.

In various embodiments, click streams 212 may also be incorporated intofile system 202 as a form of feedback 268. Click streams may includeuser feedback, user preferences, user settings, application settings,and other data provided by users. Click streams may include direct userfeedback, for example, when a user likes, pins, or comments on aservice, product, or merchant. Click streams may also include indirectfeedback such as, for example, a user's frequency of purchase andfulfillment with a service, product, or merchant. The system may useclick streams 212 to improve custom content based on past history anduser interaction with travel application 266, including what a user saw,what a user clicked, when a user clicked, and other user interaction.For example, repeat purchases at a high frequency may indicate a highdegree of satisfaction with a service, product, or merchant and thusclick streams 212 may revise custom content to include similar services,products, or merchants. File system 202 may maintain the data to supporta computational framework 222.

In various embodiments, computational framework 222 provides datatransformation and aggregation of the data sources. Computationalframework may be maintained on the same distributed computing system(e.g., a Hadoop® cluster) as file system 202. Computational framework222 may transform the data maintained in file system 202 into datasuitable to support a custom content engine. In that regard,computational framework 222 generates and stores derived data for accessby real-time database 242. Computational framework 222 may automaticallyor manually refresh the derived data monthly, weekly, daily, hourly,continuously, or at any other regular or irregular interval, dependingon the desired frequency, using batch processing and/or real-timeupdates.

In various embodiments, computational framework 222 may include raw datatransformations 224, data science generation 226, customer spendpredictions 228, interest graphs 230, insights creation 232, and othersuitable data computation services supporting the custom content engine.Raw data transformations 224 may provide data aggregation andtransformation to support data science generation 226 and data insightscreation 232. For example, raw data transformations may generate rollupdata on a per-user and/or per-merchant basis. Rollup data may thussummarize the transaction history of transaction accounts as well as thetransaction history at merchants.

In various embodiments, data science generation 226 may includegenerating unique user characteristics. In that regard, data sciencegeneration 226 may leverage historical transaction data to createcustomer-to-customer similarity metrics. Data science generation 226 mayalso include generating personalization and similarity matrices. In thatregard, computational framework 222 may create user-to-user andmerchant-to-merchant similarity matrices (e.g., item matrices) based onuser transaction data using collaborative filtering and customalgorithms. The personalization and similarity matrices may enablecustom content for a user based on a similarity with other users.

Data science generation 226 of computational framework 222 may alsoimplement lookalike modeling and segmentation to provide a user withcustom content based on her similarity with other users in a same orsimilar segment. Lookalike modeling and segmentation may enable theexpanded application of closed-loop transaction data (describingtransaction-account holders) to non-transaction account holders forwhich no closed-loop transaction data has been generated. In thatregard, the users with associated closed-loop data may serve as a seeduser set to expand custom content based on the closed-loop data to anexpanded user set that includes users without associated closed-loopdata.

In various embodiments, similarity metrics measure users relative to oneanother in various segments. Users may be characterized based onavailable associated information. Where closed-loop data (e.g.,transaction history and/or ROC data) is available for a user, theclosed-loop data may be used to generate merchant scores for the useragainst various merchants, market segments, and/or industries. Ifdesired, the closed-loop data may be used in conjunction with thirdparty data, public data, or feedback to generate the scores. Theclosed-loop data may include, for example, spend pattern, type ofmerchants visited, travel preferences, interests, spend frequency, anddemographics. The scores may be integrated into a customer vector forcomparison with other customers.

Where transaction account issuer or closed loop data is unavailable(e.g., because the user is not a member of the closed-loop network), theuser may be scored on third party data, public data, and any pastfeedback received from the user. Third party and public data may includedemographics, home location, and/or other information, but may notinclude closed-loop data such as transaction history. The scores forthese users may also be integrated into a customer vector for comparisonwith other customers, albeit a potentially less complete vector sinceclosed-loop data is unavailable for the user.

The customer-to-customer similarity metrics enable comparison of oneconsumer to another consumer to identify similarities. In that regard, auser for which rich, closed-loop data exists may be compared to a userfor which closed-loop data does not exist. Fields may be identified inthe vectors that indicate similarity between the users, whether or notthe users have closed-loop data. Those fields may be compared to findsegments of similar users. Custom content and curated content based onclosed-loop data may be generated for users without closed-loop data byexpanding the closed-loop data from users to the similar users for whichclosed-loop data does not exist.

For example, User A has closed-loop data, and User B does not. User Aand User B match, as they are similar in identified fields of theirrespective customer vectors. The similarities may be identified usinguser segments in which users have a common attribute such as zip code,age, or any other user attribute. User B may receive content based on asimilarity to User A, such as custom content based on closed-loop dataand/or third party data.

In various embodiments, computational framework 222 may further generatecustomer spend predictions 228. Customer spend predictions 228 may begenerated using users' historical transaction data (e.g., data capturedin ROCs). Customer spend predictions 228 may identify user spend intentin various industries over a specific period of time based on historicalspends in the respective industries. For example, if a user annuallyspends on a vacation to Brazil in November, the customer spendpredictions 228 may identify the user spend intent for a trip to Brazilin the coming November. Customer spend predictions 228 may also map theuser profiles with merchant profiles to identify most relevant merchantsfor each user.

In various embodiments, computational framework 222 may also supportinterest graphs 230 and insights creation 232. Interest graphs 230 maybe based on scores for a user's interests. User interests may be scoredbased on patterns in the types of merchant visitation displayed in theirtransaction history. Insights creation 232 may include creatingdescriptive statistics, rankings, and scores for merchants based onobserved trends in merchant visitation (for example, locals “score” andrepeat visits “score”) that may be presented to users as statisticsand/or metrics to assist in service and product evaluation. A merchantmay be scored based on its repeat customer base and usage in differentsegments (e.g., non-account holders, basic account holders, gold accountholders may each form a different segment with different spend patternsat the merchant). The statistics may be presented through a travelplanning application to help evaluate lodging, flights, dining, or othertravel products (e.g., 65% of users that dine at a particular locationreturn to that location, platinum members have a 70% return rate at amerchant, or a 4 out of 5 return rate score). Examples of insightscreation 232 may include profiling by spend of premium customers, repeatvisits, international visits, duration of visits, or other identifiabledata insights. The processed data from computational framework 222 maysupport real-time database 242.

In various embodiments, real-time database 242 may include all of, orsubset of, the processed dataset from file system 202 and/orcomputational framework 222 to service real-time data requests.Real-time database 242 may be maintained on the same distributedcomputing system (e.g., a Hadoop® cluster) as file system 202 andcomputational framework 222. Real-time database 242 may incorporate oneor more data platforms to support varying applications. For example,real-time database 242 may include an indexing data platform 244 toprovide reliable, scalable, and fault-tolerant distributed indexing. Theindexing services may support fast querying and searching through bigdata sets. Indexing data platform 244 may be implemented usingelasticsearch® and/or SOLR®, for example. Real-time database 242 mayalso include an interactive data platform 246 that stores and processesdata in large volumes via batch processing and also supports interactiveand real-time applications. Interactive data platform 246 may beimplemented, for example, using Hbase® M7. Real-time database 242 mayalso comprise a Geo-location data platform 248 with the capability todetect and record where a user is located. The user's geolocation may beused as an input for a query to provide location-based results. Webservices 262 may query the various data platforms in real-time database242 as appropriate to fulfill a request by travel application 266.

In various embodiments, distributed processing system 250 comprisingfile system 202, computational framework 222, and real-time database 242may provide backend services to a web application such as travelapplication 266. Web services 262 may serve as the externalcommunication point, outside of firewall 252. All communications fromtravel application 266 and/or travel booking engine 264 to real-timedatabase 242 may be facilitated through web services 262. Web servicesmay comprise logic for intelligently responding to requests receivedfrom travel application 266. Web services 262 may also comprise anapplication programming interface (API) to allow travel application 266and other third party applications to interact with web services 262.

In various embodiments, travel application 266 may make requests fortravel information available through a travel booking engine using anAPI to communicate with web services 262. In response to a request fromtravel application 266, web services 262 may relay the request to thetravel booking engine 264 to retrieve relevant flight, car rental,merchant, and/or hotel availability pertaining to the request. Webservices 262 may return the requested results to travel application 266.

In various embodiments, web services 262 may also incorporate userpreferences (explicit preferences and implicit preferences derived fromfeedback) in interpreting search results. In that regard, the hotel,flight, and/or other availability retrieved from travel booking engine264 may be matched with customer preferences by web services 262 toarrive at appropriate recommendations and/or offers for a particularuser of travel application 266, without having to store the bookinginformation in a database.

In various embodiments, travel booking engine 264 may be a third partyservice providing flight and hotel availability and booking informationin real-time. For example, travel booking engine 264 may be implementedusing a Global Distribution System (GDS) such as, for example, thosemaintained by the Sabre Corporation and Amadeus IT Holdings. Travelbooking engine 264 may thus facilitate fulfillment of a transaction withthe ability to pass any booking information back into the system.

In various embodiments, travel application 266 may be a user-facingapplication that serves an interactive experience for trip search,planning, booking, feedback based on the transaction history datamanaged by distributed processing system 250.

Travel application 266 operating with distributed processing system 250may simplify booking and provide insight derived from closed-looptransaction history data. For example, travel application 266 mayshorten the user path to booking by providing data-driven contentcustomized for the user given their query, trip type, and context. Forexample, travel application 266 may curate trips based on desired triplength and other parameters from the transaction data. A user may entersearch parameters that are important to them, and travel application 266may infer blank criteria based on transaction history and the user'sprofile or persona. Travel application 266 may also recommend adestination based on a user's past travel behaviors. Travel application266 may also suggest a particular hotel, destination, flight, etc. basedon customer personas (e.g., families, luxury travelers, frequenttravelers) absent a direct user query.

In various embodiments, travel application 266 may create data-drivenevaluation stats on merchants. For example, travel application 266 maydetect that many patrons who stayed at a certain hotel came back asecond time. Travel application 266 may use longitudinal commercebehavior and interests to refine search results. For example, apreference for antique goods shopping over golf may correlate withvisitation to a particular hotel that is closer to antique shoppingareas. Travel application 266 may reference places a user has been tohelp find new places in the travel destination based on merchantsimilarity matrices. Travel application 266 may also show restaurantsthat other people went to when they stayed at a hotel where a user isconsidering or staying. Travel application 266 may set priorities (e.g.,spend more on the flight, less on the hotel, more on food and less onactivities) to create contextually relevant suggestions specificallytailored to a user. Travel application 266 may generally provide anexperience where the user is able to take into account hotel, flight,and activity choices concurrently rather than having to go throughindependent experiences.

System 200 may incorporate feedback 268 from users into file system 202,computational framework 222, and/or real-time database 242 to furtherenhance the closed-loop transaction data used to model consumerpreferences. Feedback 268 provided by the user via travel application266, including likes, clicks, visitation data, and/or fulfillment data,may be ingested back into distributed processing system 250. Thefeedback may be integrated into the computational framework to modifyraw data transformations 224, insights creation 232, models,personalization, and predictions for model enhancements.

In various embodiments, feedback 268 may be permanently stored in filesystem 202 for use in generating customer profiles during refreshcycles, for example, through batch processing. Feedback 268 may also beintegrated into real-time database 242 to provide real-time insight intouser behavior.

For example, feedback data in the form of a like, a pin, or a purchasemay indicate that a user liked their experience with a merchant, so thefeedback may be returned as feedback 268 into, for example, the clickstreams 212 data source in file system 202. Computational framework 222may process feedback 268 to determine that the user has a preference formerchants similar to the merchant with which the feedback 268 isassociated.

In various embodiments, system 200 may generate dynamic content usingfeedback 268 and incoming ROC data. For example, system 200 may notethat a disproportionately high number of users are currently searchingfor trips to Barcelona in response to the queries submitted by travelapplication 266. Travel application 266 may aid users uncertain on adestination by indicating that Barcelona is a trending location.Similarly, system 200 may detect, based on booking history feedback,that an abnormally large number of consumers are traveling on the sameday as a user and dynamically suggest that the user should arrive at theairport early.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, process 300 for modifying user profilesand/or content in response to feedback is shown, in accordance withvarious embodiments. Content provider 106 of FIG. 1 may use system 200of FIG. 2 to perform process 300. Content provider 106 may storetransaction history for transaction accounts (Block 302). Thetransaction history may be stored on distributed processing system 250to support a user application such as travel application 266, asdescribed above.

In various embodiments, content provider 106 may generate profiles basedon the transaction history (Block 304). The profiles may include userprofiles as well as merchant profiles. The user profiles may capturedetails based on the user's transaction history such as the frequencythat a user visits various merchants, how often the user travels, theamounts the user spends in various segments over a time period, andother transaction related information. The user profiles may alsocapture user data originating from non-transaction sources such as theuser's home zip code, gender, age, and other details descriptive of theuser. The user profiles may be used to create similarity matrices andidentify users with similar preferences.

In various embodiments, merchant profiles may also be generated fromtransaction data by aggregating transaction data of all users thattransacted with the merchant using a transaction account. The merchantprofile may also be augmented using data from third party sources suchas, for example, GDS information providers. The merchant profiles may beused to create similarity matrices and identify merchants having similarcharacteristics.

In various embodiments, content provider 106 may store the profiles in areal-time database 242 (Block 306). Real-time database may allow contentprovider 106 to retrieve profiles and generate custom content in realtime. Content provider 106 may thus generate content based on profilesin response to a request from an application (Block 308). Content basedon the profiles may include recommendations for goods and services thata user may be interested in based on their past history. For example,content provider 106 may look up a user profile indicating that the userhas stayed at five hotels over the last year while on trips away outsidetheir home state. Content provider 106 may look up the merchant profilesfor the hotels and determine that each of the hotels is a four starhotel. Content provider 106 may generate user specific recommendationsfor that user profile listing only four star hotels. Content provider106 may also generate custom queries to refine the user's results.Continuing the above example, content provider 106 may query whether theuser prefers a four star hotel for this trip based on their recenthistory of staying only at four star hotels. The query may be selectedfrom a group of queries and/or custom generated based on the userprofile. In the example above, content provider 106 considered the userhistory of staying at four star hotels to generate the custom query asto whether the user would prefer a four star hotel again. The targetquestions may thus assist users in arriving at a preferred trip.

In various embodiments, content provider 106 may receive feedback 268 oncontent from the application (Block 310). Feedback 268 may includedirect feedback such as a like, a dislike, a pin, a review, arecommendation, a query response, or other user action that indicates apositive, negative, or indifferent perception of the content by a user.Feedback 268 may also include indirect feedback such as transactions andfulfillment, a click in a screen on an application, time spent viewing apage, and/or the sequence of pages visited. Continuing the aboveexample, the user may answer the query regarding four star hotels byindicating that they do not want a four star hotel for this trip. Theuser response to the prompted question is direct feedback from the userindicating a negative perception of the four star hotels with respect tothe trip they are planning.

In various embodiments, content provider 106 may modify profiles and/orcontent based on the feedback (Block 312). The feedback may be used toimprove the model to yield better content for all users and/or modifythe content viewed by the particular user who provided the feedback byadjusting the user's score with various merchants (e.g., in the customermetrics described above). The modification may be dynamically performedto profiles and/or content as appropriate. The feedback may also bestored with the profile and weighted and scored relative to other datato provide an evolving user profile that may be updated in response to arefresh of distributed processing system 250. In that regard, system 200may be a self-learning system. Continuing the above example, in responseto the feedback 268 indicating that the user does not want a four starhotel, content provider 106 may dynamically modify the list of suggestedhotels to include three star hotels and exclude four star hotels.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 4, a process 400 is shown for makingcustom travel suggestions for a user based on the user's profile andsimilar user profiles that are generated from transaction history, inaccordance with various embodiments. Content provider 106 may receive arequest for content from an application (Block 402). The request maycome from an application such as travel application 266 and may includesearch criteria entered by the user or criteria submitted by theapplication to generate content for a page. For example, a user mayenter travel dates of 12/13 to 12/21 in travel application 266 and leavethe destination field blank. The user may hit a submit button and travelapplication 266 may submit the request to web services 262. Contentprovider 106 may receive the query with the entered dates and know thatthe user is logged in to the requesting application.

In various embodiments, content provider 106 may retrieve search resultsfrom real-time database 242 (Block 404). The search results may beretrieved solely on the basis of the criteria, or the criteria may beaugmented with data from the user profile prior to retrieving the searchresults. For example, the user may take a trip to Colorado every winter.Content provider 106 may thus retrieve search results for hotels and airfare for a trip from 12/13 to 12/21.

In various embodiments, content provider 106 may search and sort thesearch results based on the user's transaction history and/or profile(Block 406). Search results may be sorted (e.g., into ranked lists) bycharacteristics of importance to the user according to the user profile,which may be partially or wholly generated from the user's transactionhistory as disclosed above. Results that are unlikely to interest theuser may be filtered by default unless the user indicates the filtershould be removed. Continuing the above example, content provider 106may look up the user profile and detect that each of the past five yearsthe user has flown directly into the mountain airport rather than theDenver airport. Content provider 106 may thus filter out flights intoDenver and return only flights to the mountain airport. Similarly,content provider 106 may detect that the user has stayed in the same zipcode for four of the five historic trips. Content provider 106 may thuspresent lodging options in the same zip code before lodging options inother zip codes. The user profile may also incorporate feedback frompast interaction with travel application 266 that this user sorts fromhighest price to lowest price 50% of the time and selects one of the top3 results. Content provider 106 may also compare the user profile toother similar user profiles and find that similar users regularly returnto a set of 5 hotels. Content provider 106 may sort trip combinationsincluding the flights into the mountain and lodging at three of the fivehotels by descending price. Features such as similarity matrices, itemmatrices, and ranked lists and their uses are further disclosed in U.S.application Ser. Nos. 13/794,145 and 13/715,770, which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

In various embodiments, content provider 106 may transmit the searchresults to the application (Block 408). By ordering and filtering searchresults based on the transaction history of the user or of a similaruser based on profile similarities, travel application 266 may providethe user with relevant results without the user's explicit input.Moreover, by remembering the user's sorting (e.g., descending price) andviewing habits (e.g., the top three results), content provider 106 cantailor the user experience in addition to the content. Travelapplication 266 using process 400 thus tends to shorten the path tobooking and make the user experience less involved for the user byweighing multiple aspects of their trip at the same time, and optimizingsuggestions based on hotels and flight availability as well as userpreferences.

In various embodiments, FIG. 5 illustrates a process 500 for providing adata-driven travel application (e.g., travel application 266) configuredto interface with system 200 and provide travel search results based onclosed-loop data, in accordance with various embodiments. Data may becustomized and curated for a user based on a profile associated withuser information, such as phone number, email, account number, etc. Atravel application may display a search interface on user device 102 forcollection of user preferences to begin a travel search for the user(Block 502). The search interface may include a description andselections for presentation on user device 102. Descriptions may includean identifier for the type of information being collected, such as triptype. Selections may include a variety of different subtypes within theidentifier. For example, a trip type may include beach, mountain, city,or country trips. A user may select any of the listed selections toprovide search parameters. For example, beach may be used as a searchparameter in response to a user selecting the corresponding selectionfor beach.

Travel details may be displayed on user device 102 for collection ofsearch parameters for a trip. Details include a description of thesearch parameters being collected such as origin location, travel dates,and number of travelers. Origin location may include an airport or acollection of airports selected from a list of airports and/or derivedbased on user input such as zip code, geo location, home address, ordirect location selection by the user. Travel dates may include adeparture date and a return date and may be selected on a calendar,entered with text, and/or derived based on past travel history. Travelernumbers may include the number of adults and children traveling and thenumber of rooms desired, if any, and may be entered with test, enteredusing counters, and/or derived from past travel history. Other suitabletravel preferences may be identified and used as search parameters. Theuser may run the search by entering the search parameters on user device102 and pressing a search button. A travel application may retrieve asearch result matching the travel preferences associated with the user(Block 504).

A travel application may include a results interface to provide searchresults in response, in accordance with various embodiments. The resultsinterface may include with an individual result or a list of results. Aresults interface may thus include one or more search results matchingthe previously entered search criteria. The search results may befurther refined and filtered based on user preferences, past user spendhistory, user personas, and/or lookalike modeling. Search result may beadded to a future trip by the user or passed to view the next result.Result characteristics may include ratings derived from the closed-loopdata such as transactions at the merchant corresponding with searchresult. For example, ratings may include popularity of search resultwith various segments such as repeat visitors, international travelers,premium travelers, business travelers, domestic travelers, and othersegments that may be identified and rated using the closed-loop data.

In various embodiments, the results interface may also include relatedsuggestions. Related suggestions may include goods and/or servicescommonly consumed by users of search result. For example, transactionhistory of other users that stay at the hotel identified in the searchresult may have dined at restaurants identified in related suggestions.A travel application may relate a good and/or service to the searchresult by identifying the search result and the good and/or service in atransaction history (Block 506). In that regard, related suggestions maybe derived from closed-loop data by identifying both a suggested good orservice and a search result in one or more of the same transactionhistory. Third party data and/or booking data may be used to augment theclosed-loop data and provide users with improved reviews and insightinto products of interest. For example, a group of transaction historiesfrom the closed-loop data may include both a hotel identified in thesearch result as well as a restaurant identified in related suggest. Thetype of the restaurant and current room rates, for example, may bedetermined using third party data to match the closed-loop data.

A travel application may also include a refining interface, inaccordance with various embodiments. A refining interface may presentone or more choices between alternatives to learn more about userpreferences. For example, choices may be a set of binary choices inwhich a user selects one of two options. Refining interface may enableuser device to collect the preferred activities and tailor suggestionsfor lodging, destination, dining, entertainment, and/or other travelcomponents to the user preferences. For example, a user may indicate apreference to watch a sports match over visiting museums. The travelapplication may refine search results selecting sports related resultsrather than museum related results. The selection may be made by using apersona that fits the user to identify sports related interests. Thetravel application may also determine, based on the closed-looptransaction history of other users, what users having similarpreferences chose to do on their trips. The combination of selectionsmade for choices may thus be used to personalize search results and/orrelated suggestions by providing relevant results.

The travel application may include a filter interface, in accordancewith various embodiments. The filter interface may further collect userpreferences to identify relevant search results based on closed-loopdata and/or third party data. A filter interface may include one or morenumeric ranges to refine selections based quantitative characteristicssuch as price, distance, and duration. Filter interface may also includea list of preference categories to tailor search results to qualitativeuser preferences.

In various embodiments, users may drill down into preference categoriesto tailor search results. For example, a user may select a preferencecategory corresponding to personal interests and a list of preferencesmay expand for the selection. Preferences may include one or morepreferences available for user input. Preferences may be selectable, mayhave further sub-preferences, may include text fields, may include aselection from a list, or any other suitable input for accepting userpreferences. For example, the user may select one or more preferences tofilter displayed search results that align with the selectedpreferences. User device 102 may apply the preferences from the filterinterface to filter search results.

In various embodiments, a travel application may display refined searchresults. However, the results and result characteristics displayed inthe refined results interface may be tailored to a user using the abovedescribed filtering and refinement interfaces to identify userpreferences. User preferences may be matched to characteristics of thesearch results that are derived from closed-loop data.

The systems and methods herein may generate data driven user profilesand merchant profiles from closed-loop transaction data. The profilesand transaction data serve as objective data sources for use in contentgeneration. In the context of travel services, transaction history mayenable content providers to fill in blanks for users and streamline tripplanning. Content provider 106 may also identify products that willlikely be received well by the user based on the user's similarity toother users and the transaction history of the other users. In thatregard, systems according to the present disclosure may tend to reducethe role of subjective reviews in evaluating and planning trips. Adata-driven application, such as the travel application disclosed above,may interface with the closed-loop data system to further provide userswith insight derived from otherwise private closed-loop data.

Systems, methods and computer program products are provided. In thedetailed description herein, references to “various embodiments”, “oneembodiment”, “an embodiment”, “an example embodiment”, etc., indicatethat the embodiment described may include a particular feature,structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarilyinclude the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover,such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment.Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic isdescribed in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it iswithin the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature,structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodimentswhether or not explicitly described. After reading the description, itwill be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implementthe disclosure in alternative embodiments.

A “user profile” or “consumer profile data” may comprise any informationor data about a consumer that describes an attribute associated with theconsumer (e.g., a preference, an interest, demographic information,personally identifying information, and the like). A user profile may beassociated with an account or may be generated for users withoutaccounts.

Phrases and terms similar to “business” or “merchant” may be usedinterchangeably with each other and shall mean any person, entity,distributor system, software and/or hardware that is a provider, brokerand/or any other entity in the distribution chain of goods or services.For example, a merchant may be a grocery store, a retail store, a travelagency, a service provider, an on-line merchant or the like.

Phrases and terms similar to “internal data” may include any data acredit issuer possesses or acquires pertaining to a particular consumer.Internal data may be gathered before, during, or after a relationshipbetween the credit issuer and the transaction account holder (e.g., theconsumer or buyer). Such data may include consumer demographic data.Consumer demographic data includes any data pertaining to a consumer.Consumer demographic data may include consumer name, address, telephonenumber, email address, employer and social security number. Consumertransactional data is any data pertaining to the particular transactionsin which a consumer engages during any given time period. Consumertransactional data may include, for example, transaction amount,transaction time, transaction vendor/merchant, and transactionvendor/merchant location.

Transaction vendor/merchant location may contain a high degree ofspecificity to a vendor/merchant. For example, transactionvendor/merchant location may include a particular gasoline filingstation in a particular postal code located at a particular crosssection or address. Also, for example, transaction vendor/merchantlocation may include a particular web address, such as a UniformResource Locator (“URL”), an email address and/or an Internet Protocol(“IP”) address for a vendor/merchant. Transaction vendor/merchant andtransaction vendor/merchant location may be associated with a particularconsumer and further associated with sets of consumers.

As used herein, big data may refer to partially or fully structured,semi-structured, or unstructured data sets including millions of rowsand hundreds of thousands of columns. A big data set may be compiled,for example, from a history of purchase transactions over time, from webregistrations, from social media, from ROC, from summaries of charges(SOC), from internal data, or from other suitable sources. Big data setsmay be compiled without descriptive metadata such as column types,counts, percentiles, or other interpretive-aid data points.

The various system components discussed herein may include one or moreof the following: a host server or other computing systems including aprocessor for processing digital data; a memory coupled to the processorfor storing digital data; an input digitizer coupled to the processorfor inputting digital data; an application program stored in the memoryand accessible by the processor for directing processing of digital databy the processor; a display device coupled to the processor and memoryfor displaying information derived from digital data processed by theprocessor; and a plurality of databases. Various databases used hereinmay include: client data; merchant data; financial institution data;and/or like data useful in the operation of the system.

The present system or any part(s) or function(s) thereof may beimplemented using hardware, software or a combination thereof and may beimplemented in one or more computer systems or other processing systems.However, the manipulations performed by embodiments were often referredto in terms, such as matching or selecting, which are commonlyassociated with mental operations performed by a human operator. No suchcapability of a human operator is necessary, or desirable in most cases,in any of the operations described herein. Rather, the operations may bemachine operations. Useful machines for performing the variousembodiments include general purpose digital computers or similardevices.

In fact, in various embodiments, the embodiments are directed toward oneor more computer systems capable of carrying out the functionalitydescribed herein. The computer system includes one or more processors,such as processor. The processor is connected to a communicationinfrastructure (e.g., a communications bus, cross-over bar, or network).Various software embodiments are described in terms of this exemplarycomputer system. After reading this description, it will become apparentto a person skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement variousembodiments using other computer systems and/or architectures. Computersystem can include a display interface that forwards graphics, text, andother data from the communication infrastructure (or from a frame buffernot shown) for display on a display unit.

Computer system also includes a main memory, such as for example randomaccess memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory. Thesecondary memory may include, for example, a hard disk drive and/or aremovable storage drive, representing a floppy disk drive, a magnetictape drive, an optical disk drive, etc. The removable storage drivereads from and/or writes to a removable storage unit in a well-knownmanner. Removable storage unit represents a floppy disk, magnetic tape,optical disk, etc. which is read by and written to by removable storagedrive. As will be appreciated, the removable storage unit includes acomputer usable storage medium having stored therein computer softwareand/or data.

Computer system may also include a communications interface.Communications interface allows software and data to be transferredbetween computer system and external devices. Examples of communicationsinterface may include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernetcard), a communications port, a Personal Computer Memory CardInternational Association (PCMCIA) slot and card, etc. Software and datatransferred via communications interface are in the form of signalswhich may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical or other signalscapable of being received by communications interface. These signals areprovided to communications interface via a communications path (e.g.,channel). This channel carries signals and may be implemented usingwire, cable, fiber optics, a telephone line, a cellular link, a radiofrequency (RF) link, wireless and other communications channels.

The terms “computer program medium” and “computer usable medium” and“computer readable medium” are used to generally refer to media such asremovable storage drive and a hard disk installed in hard disk drive.These computer program products provide software to computer systems.

Computer programs (also referred to as computer control logic) arestored in main memory and/or secondary memory. Computer programs mayalso be received via communications interface. Such computer programs,when executed, enable the computer system to perform the features asdiscussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed,enable the processor to perform the features of various embodiments.Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of thecomputer system.

In various embodiments, software may be stored in a computer programproduct and loaded into computer system using removable storage drive,hard disk drive or communications interface. The control logic(software), when executed by the processor, causes the processor toperform the functions of various embodiments as described herein. Invarious embodiments, hardware components such as application specificintegrated circuits (ASICs). Implementation of the hardware statemachine so as to perform the functions described herein will be apparentto persons skilled in the relevant art(s).

In various embodiments, the web services 262 may include applicationservers (e.g. WEB SPHERE, WEB LOGIC, JBOSS). In various embodiments, theserver may include web servers (e.g. APACHE, IIS, GWS, SUN JAVA® SYSTEMWEB SERVER).

User device 102 may include a web client for communication with webservices 262. A web client includes any device (e.g., personal computer)which communicates via any network, for example such as those discussedherein. Such browser applications comprise Internet browsing softwareinstalled within a computing unit or a system to conduct onlinetransactions and/or communications. These computing units or systems maytake the form of a computer or set of computers, although other types ofcomputing units or systems may be used, including laptops, notebooks,tablets, hand held computers, personal digital assistants, set-topboxes, workstations, computer-servers, main frame computers,mini-computers, PC servers, pervasive computers, network sets ofcomputers, personal computers, such as IPADS®, IMACS®, and MACBOOKS®,kiosks, terminals, point of sale (POS) devices and/or terminals,televisions, or any other device capable of receiving data over anetwork. A web-client may run MICROSOFT® INTERNET EXPLORER®, MOZILLA®FIREFOX®, GOOGLE® CHROME®, APPLE® Safari, or any other of the myriadsoftware packages available for browsing the internet.

As used herein, “transmit” may include sending electronic data from onesystem component to another over a network connection. Additionally, asused herein, “data” may include encompassing information such ascommands, queries, files, data for storage, and the like in digital orany other form.

Any databases discussed herein may include relational, hierarchical,graphical, or object-oriented structure and/or any other databaseconfigurations. Common database products that may be used to implementthe databases include DB2 by IBM® (Armonk, N.Y.), various databaseproducts available from ORACLE® Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.),MICROSOFT® Access® or MICROSOFT® SQL Server® by MICROSOFT® Corporation(Redmond, Wash.), MySQL by MySQL AB (Uppsala, Sweden), or any othersuitable database product. Moreover, the databases may be organized inany suitable manner, for example, as data tables or lookup tables. Eachrecord may be a single file, a series of files, a linked series of datafields or any other data structure. Association of certain data may beaccomplished through any desired data association technique such asthose known or practiced in the art. For example, the association may beaccomplished either manually or automatically. Automatic associationtechniques may include, for example, a database search, a databasemerge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, using a key field in the tables to speedsearches, sequential searches through all the tables and files, sortingrecords in the file according to a known order to simplify lookup,and/or the like. The association step may be accomplished by a databasemerge function, for example, using a “key field” in pre-selecteddatabases or data sectors. Various database tuning steps arecontemplated to optimize database performance. For example, frequentlyused files such as indexes may be placed on separate file systems toreduce In/Out (“I/O”) bottlenecks.

These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purposecomputer, special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructionsthat execute on the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks. These computer program instructions may alsobe stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

The term “non-transitory” is to be understood to remove only propagatingtransitory signals per se from the claim scope and does not relinquishrights to all standard computer-readable media that are not onlypropagating transitory signals per se. Stated another way, the meaningof the term “non-transitory computer-readable medium” and“non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” should be construed toexclude only those types of transitory computer-readable media whichwere found in In Re Nuijten to fall outside the scope of patentablesubject matter under 35 U.S.C. §101.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed herein with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any elements that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure isaccordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims, inwhich reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean“one and only one” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one ormore.” Moreover, where a phrase similar to ‘at least one of A, B, and C’or ‘at least one of A, B, or C’ is used in the claims or specification,it is intended that the phrase be interpreted to mean that A alone maybe present in an embodiment, B alone may be present in an embodiment, Calone may be present in an embodiment, or that any combination of theelements A, B and C may be present in a single embodiment; for example,A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C. Although the disclosureincludes a method, it is contemplated that it may be embodied ascomputer program instructions on a tangible computer-readable carrier,such as a magnetic or optical memory or a magnetic or optical disk. Allstructural, chemical, and functional equivalents to the elements of theabove-described various embodiments that are known to those of ordinaryskill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and areintended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, it is notnecessary for a device or method to address each and every problemsought to be solved by the present disclosure, for it to be encompassedby the present claims. Furthermore, no element, component, or methodstep in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the publicregardless of whether the element, component, or method step isexplicitly recited in the claims. No claim element herein is to beconstrued under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112 (f) unless the elementis expressly recited using the phrase “means for.” As used herein, theterms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does notinclude only those elements but may include other elements not expresslylisted or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Whatis claimed is:

1. A method comprising: generating, by a processor, a first transactionhistory from a plurality of records of charge, wherein the processor isin communication with a memory and a network interface; selecting, bythe processor and from a merchant database, a plurality of merchantsbased on the plurality of records of charge; generating, by theprocessor, a first user profile in response to the first transactionhistory and the plurality of merchants, wherein the first user profilecomprises a merchant score for a merchant appearing in the firsttransaction history, wherein the first transaction history comprisestransaction account issuer data, wherein the first user profile isstored on a distributed storage system; receiving, by the processor, arequest for content from an application, wherein the request isautomatically generated by the application or is in response to anaction by the first user, wherein the request identifies a user account,wherein the user account is associated with the first user profile;generating, by the processor, the content based on the merchant score inresponse to the request for the content; and transmitting, by theprocessor and via the network interface, the content to the applicationfor display.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, bythe processor, feedback from the application; and modifying, by theprocessor, at least one of the first user profile, the merchant score,or the content, in response to the feedback.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the transaction account issuer data is closed loop data.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting, by the processor, adynamically generated question based on the first user profile, inresponse to the generating the content; receiving, by the processor, ananswer to the dynamically generated question; and modifying, by theprocessor, at least one of the first user profile or the content inresponse to the answer.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:generating, by the processor, a second user profile in response to asecond transaction history; matching, by the processor, the first userprofile to at least one of the second user profile or a user segment;and modifying, by the processor, the content based on the at least oneof the second user profile or the user segment.
 6. The method of claim5, wherein the content comprises a recommendation for the merchant inresponse to the merchant appearing in the second transaction history. 7.The method of claim 1, further comprising: matching, by the processor, afirst merchant profile and a second merchant profile; identifying, bythe processor, the first merchant profile in the first transactionhistory, wherein the content comprises a recommendation for the secondmerchant profile, in response to the matching the first merchant profileand the second merchant profile.
 8. A computer-based system, comprising:a processor; a tangible, non-transitory memory configured to communicatewith the processor, the tangible, non-transitory memory havinginstructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by theprocessor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:generating, by a processor, a first transaction history from a pluralityof records of charge, wherein the processor is in communication with amemory and a network interface; selecting, by the processor and from amerchant database, a plurality of merchants based on the plurality ofrecords of charge; generating, by the processor, a first user profile inresponse to the first transaction history and the plurality ofmerchants, wherein the first user profile comprises a merchant score fora merchant appearing in the first transaction history, wherein the firsttransaction history comprises transaction account issuer data, whereinthe first user profile is stored on a distributed storage system;receiving, by the processor, a request for content from an application,wherein the request is automatically generated by the application or isin response to an action by the first user, wherein the requestidentifies a user account, wherein the user account is associated withthe first user profile; generating, by the processor, the content basedon the merchant score in response to the request for the content; andtransmitting, by the processor and via the network interface, thecontent to the application for display.
 9. The computer-based system ofclaim 8, further comprising: receiving, by the processor, feedback fromthe application; and modifying, by the processor, at least one of thefirst user profile, the merchant score, or the content in response tothe feedback.
 10. The computer-based system of claim 8, wherein thetransaction account issuer data is closed loop data.
 11. Thecomputer-based system of claim 8, further comprising: transmitting, bythe processor, a dynamically generated question based on the first userprofile in response to the generating the content; receiving, by theprocessor, an answer to the dynamically generated question; andmodifying, by the processor, at least one of the first user profile orthe content in response to the answer.
 12. The computer-based system ofclaim 8, further comprising: generating, by the processor, a second userprofile in response to a second transaction history; matching, by theprocessor, the first user profile to at least one of the second userprofile or a user segment; and modifying, by the processor, the contentbased on the at least one of the second user profile or the usersegment.
 13. The computer-based system of claim 12, wherein the contentcomprises a recommendation for the merchant in response to the merchantappearing in the second transaction history.
 14. The computer-basedsystem of claim 8, further comprising: matching, by the processor, afirst merchant profile and a second merchant profile; identifying, bythe processor, the first merchant profile in the first transactionhistory, wherein the content comprises a recommendation for the secondmerchant profile in response to the matching the first merchant profileand the second merchant profile.
 15. An article of manufacture includinga non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium havinginstructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by acomputer-based system, cause the computer-based system to performoperations comprising: generating, by a processor, a first transactionhistory from a plurality of records of charge, wherein the processor isin communication with a memory and a network interface; selecting, bythe processor and from a merchant database, a plurality of merchantsbased on the plurality of records of charge; generating, by theprocessor, a first user profile in response to the first transactionhistory and the plurality of merchants, wherein the first user profilecomprises a merchant score for a merchant appearing in the firsttransaction history, wherein the first transaction history comprisestransaction account issuer data, wherein the first user profile isstored on a distributed storage system; receiving, by the processor, arequest for content from an application, wherein the request isautomatically generated by the application or is in response to anaction by the first user, wherein the request identifies a user account,wherein the user account is associated with the first user profile;generating, by the processor, the content based on the merchant score inresponse to the request for the content; and transmitting, by theprocessor and via the network interface, the content to the applicationfor display.
 16. The article of claim 15, further comprising: receiving,by the processor, feedback from the application; and modifying, by theprocessor, at least one of the first user profile, the merchant score,or the content in response to the feedback.
 17. The article of claim 15,further comprising: transmitting, by the processor, a dynamicallygenerated question based on the first user profile in response to thegenerating the content; receiving, by the processor, an answer to thedynamically generated question; and modifying, by the processor, atleast one of the first user profile or the content in response to theanswer.
 18. The article of claim 15, further comprising: generating, bythe processor, a second user profile in response to a second transactionhistory; matching, by the processor, the first user profile to at leastone of the second user profile or a user segment; and modifying, by theprocessor, the content based on the at least one of the second userprofile or the user segment.
 19. The article of claim 18, wherein thecontent comprises a recommendation for the merchant in response to themerchant appearing in the second transaction history.
 20. The article ofclaim 15, further comprising: matching, by the processor, a firstmerchant profile and a second merchant profile; identifying, by theprocessor, the first merchant profile in the first transaction history,wherein the content comprises a recommendation for the second merchantprofile in response to the matching the first merchant profile and thesecond merchant profile.